Stirred by the Flame of Jesus’ Love

Devotional Reflection, Thursday, April 4, 2024

Thursday in Easter Week

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. . . .19”Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. . . .And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 959)

AM Psalm 146, 147; PM Psalm 148, 149

Exod. 13:3-10; 1 Cor. 15:41-50; Matt. 28:16-20

David’s Reflections

If we return to Galilee, as did these earliest disciples, what will be our experience of Jesus?  Yesterday, we talked about our returning to Galilee as a return to the beginning of the Gospel story to reread it in light of the ending.  For those earliest disciples returning was a literal return to the place of their beginnings with Jesus and hearing his challenge to a worldwide mission of witness and teaching.

Jesus promised to be with them always.  Those final words of this Gospel form an inclusio with some of the earliest words in Matthew 1:23, “Immanuel, God with us.”  The Gospel begins with that note, that Jesus embodies God’s presence among us, and it ends with the promise that he always will be with us.

Yet, this group of followers had their uncertainties.  So much had transpired in such a brief period of time.  They were being required to reframe their understanding of God’s anointed messiah and savior and, consequently, of their responsibility as Jesus’ followers.  Some of them still were grappling with the shocking events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection, struggling with their doubts. Luke and John also report doubt among Jesus’ followers evoked by the post-resurrection appearances. (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:24-29)

These passages gives us permission to do just that, to grapple in uncertainty with our understanding of Jesus and of our experience.  The divine is shrouded in mystery and goes beyond our intellectual powers; I think of the experience of the divine, not as anti-intellectual but, as supra-intellectual. Here they were, actually in the presence of the risen Christ, and their hearts were fluttering on the breezes of doubt.  But, Jesus gave his commission for worldwide mission to the entire group, flutterers and nonflutterers alike. And, in Luke’s and John’s accounts, Jesus responded to their doubts with reassurances and not with rebuke. Jesus normalizes doubt as an ongoing part of the experience of his followers.

Rereading the four Gospels in light of their endings will bring the force of Jesus’ desire before us.  He sought to gather to God all sorts of people, the respectable and pious along with those in disrepute who lacked all the trappings of piety.  To follow Jesus and to nurture a relationship with him will put us in the middle of that ongoing mission and put us at risk of rejection, embarrassment, and, in the worst case, impoverishment and martyrdom.

Terry Eagleton put it this way in his Terry lectures on science and religion,

"If you don't love you're dead, and if you do love, they'll kill you. . . . the New Testament is a brutal destroyer of human illusions.  If you follow Jesus and don't end up dead, it appears you have some explaining to do."+

To be in relationship with Jesus will expose us to that holy desire that burns within him, a desire to bring all to God.  It also will force upon us the awareness that many live with no conscious contact with God and no ongoing experience of God’s gathering and forgiving love.  We would hope to find ourselves gripped by a holy discomfort, a driving energy to see God’s cherished ones responding to being cherished by their maker.  We may even find ourselves trying on new and risky behaviors as we join in Jesus’ mission of sharing and gathering.

As the words of one of the collects in The Book of Common Prayer express it:  “Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages.  Amen.”  (BCP, p. 113)

+Terry Eagleton, Reason, Faith, and Revolution (New Haven, CT:  Yale UP, 2010), pp. 22, 27

Collect of the Day, Easter Day

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 222.)

Thursday in Easter Week

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 223)

A Collect for Guidance

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people;  Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP 100)

A GAELIC PRAYER

As the rain hides the stars,

As the Autumn mist hides the hills,

As the clouds veil the blue of the sky,

So the dark happenings of my lot

Hide the shining of thy face from me.

Yet, if I may hold thy hand in the darkness,

It is enough.

Since I know, that though I may stumble in my going

Thou dost not fall.

(Theme prayer for the congregation of the Saxon Church of Escomb, England

Church constructed in 670-690 CE and still the site of worship for the parish.  The visitor's handbook attributes some of the architectural features to Irish Celtic influence.  Source: The Saxon Church: Escomb: A Guide for Pilgrims.  The Saxon Church.  Escomb, Durham County, England.)

In the Evening

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen.   (BCP, 833)

A Collect for Mission

O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 124)

Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 28:16-20

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer